Odisha government asks officers not to hold Census meetings

BHUBANESWAR: Days after the Centre postponed the Census and NPR updation process in view of the coronavirus outbreak, the state government on Friday asked all district collectors, who were designated as principal census officers to not hold any preparatory arrangement such as training and awareness activities in the state for the Census.
State revenue and disaster management secretary Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra has issued a direction to the district collectors in this regard.
Earlier, the state government had planned to conduct the house listing (first phase of Census) and updation of the National Population Register (NPR) from April 15 to May 31. The revenue department, which is the nodal department for the Census-related works, had already designated officers at the district, sub-division, tehsil and block-level to carry out the activities.
“The Centre has asked all the states to carry out the house listing and NPR updation in 45 days anytime between April to September. We had accordingly decided to carry out the process from April 15 to May 31. At the moment, it is not possible to conduct the training programme for the officials. Instructions have been given accordingly,” said a senior revenue department official.
As the entire state machinery has been directed towards the containment of Covid-19, chief minister Naveen Patnaik had on March 20 requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to postpone the Census and NPR updation activities. tnn